title: Isolation and identification of bacterial endophytes from pharmaceutical agarwood-producing Aquilaria species.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Resins and gums are used in traditional medicine and do have potential applications in pharmacy and medicine. Agarwood is the fragrant resinous wood, which is an important commodity from Aquilaria species and has been used as a sedative, analgesic, and digestive in traditional medicine. Endophytic bacteria are potentially important in producing pharmaceutical compounds found in the plants. Hence, it was important to understand which types of endophytic bacteria are associated with pharmaceutical agarwood-producing Aquilaria species.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study was undertaken to isolate and identify endophytic bacteria associated with agarwood-producing seven (7) Aquilaria species from Malaysia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Botanical samples of seven Aquilaria species were collected, and endophytic bacteria were isolated from surface-sterilized-tissue samples. The 16S rRNA gene fragments were amplified using PCR method, and endophytic bacterial isolates (EBIs) were identified based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity based method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Culturable, 77 EBIs were analyzed, and results of 16S rRNA gene sequences analysis suggest that 18 different types of endophytic bacteria are associated with (seven) Aquilaria species. From 77 EBIs, majority (36.4%) of the isolates were of Bacillus pumilus.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings indicate that agarwood-producing Aquilaria species are harboring 18 different types of culturable endophytic bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, AIMST University, Bedong Semeling Road, Semeling 08100, Kedah, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Subhash J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Bhore
authors.forename: Jagadesan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Preveena
authors.forename: Kodi I
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Kandasamy
keywords: 16S rRNA; Malaysia; biodiversity; endophytes; medicine; natural products; ribosomal DNA; traditional medicine